Obama gets personal on Planned Parenthood

“Mr. Romney wants to get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood. I think that’s a bad idea,” Obama said to about 950 donors at the Oregon Convention Center as he highlighted differences with Mitt Romney. “I’ve got two daughters. I want them to control their own health care choices.”

The president attacked Romney on a broad range of other policy points too. “On almost every issue there’s a contrast,” the president said before turning to his decision on gays in the military.

“I believe we did the right thing in ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” Obama said. “I believe that fairness is a hallmark of this country. Mr. Romney disagrees when it comes to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. But we’re not going backwards. We’re going forward.”

Like his other stops on this week’s campaign trip to California and Washington State, Obama’s visit to deep blue Oregon wasn’t about trying to convert voters. This trip is about raising money from an active Democratic base that includes technology, venture capital and business executives.

About 200 people are expected later Tuesday night in the Seattle suburbs at a $5,000-per-plate dinner at the home of Jim Sinegal, the co-founder of Costco. He'll also attend another fundraising roundtable with 20 people at $35,800 per ticket.

Obama also continued swinging at Romney for taking his words out of context on a now-infamous quote involving business owners building their businesses without government help.

“He’s been twisting my words around to suggest I don’t value small business,” Obama said. “Now keep in mind in politics you’ve got to endure a certain amount of spin. Everybody does it. I understand it. Those are the games in campaigns. Although I have to say when people omit entire sentences from a speech, they start splicing and dicing, they may have tipped a little bit over their skis.”

Obama's stop in the Rose City Tuesday was for a pair of fundraising events: a roundtable with about 25 people with $30,000 individual tickets and a $500 admission for his speech.